The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is a nationwide short- to medium-term government-led initiative. The Programme’s main goals include the provision of social protection and poverty alleviation through the utilisation of public sector budgets to draw significant numbers of the unemployed into temporary employment while enabling participants to attain skills in the course of such work. The success of the EPWP in the cities and the innovation and learning that has emerged through the South African Cities Network (SACN) EPWP Reference Group (RG) has been captured in 16 ‘State of the Expanded Public Works Programme in South African Cities’ reports from 2004 to 2021. This report constitutes the 17th annual report and covers the 2021/22 reporting period, which ran from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The period is the third year of Phase IV of the EPWP.

The aim of this report is to highlight and analyse the progress and implementation of the EPWP by SACN member cities in the 2021/22 year as the country continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine its successes and challenges further to facilitate shared learning and inform future directions. The seven-member cities of the SACN are the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, as well as the metropolitan municipalities of Buffalo City, Mangaung, eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay. The City of Cape Town and Msunduzi Local Municipality, although not currently SACN member cities, have been included in this report for comparative analysis purposes.